As Halloween falls on a Thursday this year, parents and kids are gearing up to celebrate on the weekends before and after the 31st. (Hey, why not wear the costume more than once?) And what better way to celebrate than to throw your own monster bash? We’ve got defrightful decorations, ghoulish goodies, and haunting how-tos galore. Celebrate early and test these ideas out with your kids now, and throwing your next party will be anything but scary—unless you want it to be.

Ghostly Giveaways! Parents can indulge in Halloween treats, too! Enter now for your chance to win a $200 gift card to Chasing Fireflies, good for costumes, clothes, and more. We're also giving away spooky books for every reader, plus tickets to haunts and happenings around the New York metro area. Don’t make a grave mistake–enter now!

Host a Hollyweird Halloween Party! Who says all ghost stories have to be spooky? Whether you introduce a gaggle of little goblins to classic Disney fairytales or want to chant, “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!” yourself, there are tons of festive flicks that children of all ages will love. Don’t see your favorites on this list? Tweet us @NYMetroParents and let us know what movie marathons you’ll be witching… we mean, watching!

Delightful Digits: Try your hand at these healthy cheese fingers from Weelicious or make spooky, severed mummy fingers complete with a dab of delicious ketchup “blood.” Don’t worry: The recipes are so easy, and no fingers will be harmed in the making of these freaky foods!

Get Crafty! Between egg carton bats and trash bag spiderwebs, there are plenty of ways to make your lair look festive with supplies you already have around the house! Let kids help you spook up the joint with jack-o-lantern mosaics and paper cup spiders that you can use year after year.

Keep Trick-or-Treating Sweet: We know it’s easy to get caught up in the “gimme, gimme!” attitude towards free candy, but proper etiquette goes a long way when your kids are trick-or-treating. Just because they’re dressed like monsters doesn’t mean they have to act like monsters! We’ve got a few tips on reminding children to focus on why the holiday is a treat instead of getting wrapped up in the tricks.

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NYMetroParents is the parenting division of Davler Media Group and encompasses 9 regional print magazines within the greater NY metro region as well as the website (nymetroparents.com). Following the success of the first NYC parenting resource book, "Big Apple Baby," BIG APPLE PARENT was launched in 1985; it is now the largest publisher of regional parenting content in the United States.